2026-10-09 APP 2.0.0-beta48 has been released !
This is mainly a bug fix release for the reported bugs in beta47. In addition it has a significant User Interface performance improvement noticable when you need to process 1000s of images in APP.
2026-10-03 APP 2.0.0-beta47 has been released !
This is a very big release... many code optimizations/rewrites, many parts of APP are much faster and more precise, especially star analysis and registration are much faster ! Big mosaics will go much faster 🙂
And we introduce a new preview filter, which includes the new Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch and a General Levels Stretch, this has been long over due. The old preview filter (the panel on the right side to stretch and preview your data) has not been updated for a couple of years and it is a critical part of any APP session.
Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch or ADSS is a much more intuitive stretch algorithm. It is also color preserving (which is a great new addition in itself ! ) which means that the highlights are no longer bleached, color is maintained from the linear data while stretching. You can simply stretch your data using the sky background level and signal width sliders which work much easier and more intuitive. You no longer need to fiddle with the old complicated sliders with zoom buttons. All the zoom buttons for the sliders are made redundant. And you can enter slider values in the slider value fields yourself. I will make a youtube video in the coming days to explain and fully introduce ADSS. Once the video is ready, it will be highlighted on the forum.
RGB Combine upgrade !. The RGB Combine Tool has been rewritten mostly. The tool is faster and easier to use and most importantly, the Luminance slider to inject a luminance channel or channels into the RGB composite is now working correctly. It no longer bleaches the RGB colors. Combined with the new ADSS preview, you will get much better and easier great composites with great color! I will also explain this in a new youtube video.
Hello fellow APP users,
With APP not yet including a full set of image processing tools, I wanted to understand what best practices folks may have for performing things like noise reduction and deconvolution in other tools which provide them.
Some of these sort of operations are best performed on linear data, so starting with an export of an unstretched image from APP is probably a good starting point. However, outside of something like Pixinsight, there aren’t a lot of tools that I’m aware of that perform these things on images in linear form.
Is anyone willing to describe their general workflow for applying additional processing outside of APP?
@mabula-admin or @vincent-mod, any ideas or suggestions on best practices?
I have Photoshop with astro plugins, StarTools, Pixinsight and APP. My current method is to process in APP then depending on what further processing is required, I choose the best tool. Usually I just go to Photoshop with the stretched data for some final touch-ups. If I feel more post processing is required I'll load the linear - non stretched - data into Star Tools for whatever is required. Star Tools is only about $50 US and only covers the functions after calibration. Star Tools is the opposite of Pixinsight in that it automates a lot of processes while Pixinsight requires more user decision making. I find StarTools is quicker.
Its too bad that StarTools and APP didn't work together and provide a complete system as they seem to have some similar philosophies. You can, of course use Pixinsight. I just find it non intuitive and time consuming compared to other choices. I'm just glad APP came along and will continue adding function.
